Imagine you are living in a remote village on a secluded mountain road in the Dominican Republic. Your only source of food is what you grow on your own small plot of land. You and your family of five share a small, two room house made of wood. Every day you wake up at dawn to search for the firewood you will use for preparation of the day’s food. Once you have returned, your wife can begin to cook the meals for the day. She will spend the majority of the day cooking over one flame to prepare three meals for your family and some neighbors.

This is a reality in a remote mountain community in the Dominican Republic. This project aims to build and maintain a new technology of cook stove in this community. The women of the house are currently using a three stone method of cooking meals. The current method has many negative side-effects, including poor health due to smoke inhalation, environmental degradation due to tree-cutting for fire wood, and an excess of time for food preparation which prevents women from participating in other familial and community activities.

The stoves that we are proposing to build have proven beneficial in many similar communities in the Dominican Republic. The new stoves have a chimney to redirect airflow out of the cooking area, resulting in a reduced amount of smoke inhalation. They are designed to enclose flames and to direct airflow in a way that burns wood slower and hotter, decreasing the amount of wood necessary to prepare a meal. In addition, the new stoves are designed with three burners. This enables women to cook more items at one time, decreasing the amount of time spent cooking. The community has proposed to build 36 new stoves, and community members will contribute roughly 50 percent of the costs. Each family soliciting a stove is required to participate in a class on basic food health and nutrition, as well as a class on stove maintenance. This will ensure the sustainability of the project. In addition, any member of the community who participates in the construction of the new stoves can use the skills learned for future stove construction and masonry projects.

Note: This summary was provided by a Peace Corps Volunteer and the community administering this project.